Adelicia Acklen

[Allie]

I would imagine she was a woman who set her self above politics, and survival was her muse. I'm not being accusative at all. She did what she felt she had to do to survive. Maybe she , or women like her, were the examples for Margaret Mitchell's heroine.

I think money was her muse. But she was certainly a strong-willed individual.

 

[18thVirginia]

I would imagine she was a woman who set her self above politics, and survival was her muse. I'm not being accusative at all. She did what she felt she had to do to survive. Maybe she , or women like her, were the examples for Margaret Mitchell's heroine.

What strikes me about Adelicia Acklen is that she was the daughter of a lawyer and judge. Her first fiancé was a lawyer, her second husband was a lawyer, who was the son of a lawyer. Her son Joseph Hayes Acklen became a lawyer. Adelicia was born in a time where there weren't women lawyers in the North or the South, but looking at her life it seems to me that she did what lawyers do. She disagreed with a will, so she went to court and challenged it.

She was about to lose her family's source of wealth, so she negotiated to maintain it, as the lawyers in her family would have done. I find that admirable, even if it wasn't acceptable to the elite Southern society to which Adelicia belonged. I don't know about Margaret Mitchell--I'm not a great fan of GWTW--not being snarky or critical of the comparison, I've just found real Southern women more interesting than her fictional heroine.

I've found Adelicia's story to be really fascinating. Her first 4 children died, not in infancy, but in childhood, which was tragic, but she continued on and had another group of children that she remained close to until the end of her life. Perhaps because I read Adelicia's history close to that of Gertrude Thomas, born to a wealthy Southern existence and married a man that basically spent her entire fortune on one scheme or another and was a rather awful alcoholic, I was more sympathetic to Adelicia's taking control of her family's financial interests.

Her son Joseph became a U. S. Representative who was in favor of women's suffrage and who represented women's suffrage groups as a lawyer.

 

[ranger326]

I just visited Belmont yesterday. Though it was not my first visit, I found it as fascinating as always. Nice to see the on-going preservation/restoration work continuing.

Couple of questions: in Adelicia's portrait with the horse (which the first poster included), Adelicia has a double part? in her hair. How was that done? Especially the hair in the middle. Was it cut really short or combed straight back somehow? Just curious. Next question; can someone recommend a good biography to read about Adelicia? At least maybe someone's thesis or paper? And finally, if Hollywood ever got smart and did a movie about Adelicia (especially when she went to retrieve her cotton) who do you folks see as playing Adelicia? I was thinking of Sandra Bullock myself.

 

[Northern Light]

I would imagine that it was combed straight back.